FMLA

Let me ask you a question or two.

Have you been cleared to return to work when your FMLA expires? Or are you going to need additional leave over and above FMLA?

What specifically s the disciplinary hearing about?

 

If you are not able to return to work when your FMLA expires they can fire you regardless. So it would seem to me that it's all rather a moot point.

 

Short term disability brings with it no job protection rights. Only FMLA has job protection. When FMLA expires, so does your job protection, even if you still have STD benefits.

Now, if you are asking me whether or not you will lose your STD benefits when your employment ends, the answer to that is that it depends on your specific STD policy but the odds are much better in favor of your benefits continuing, than they are of them ending.

 

I don't think we really have enough information to say. It is not across the board illegal for them to contact you - you're SUPPOSED to keep in touch with them. Whether or not asking you to come in, with regards to a disciplinary issue, violates anything is very fact specific and we don't have very many facts. You yourself probably don't have all the facts we would need to make a determination - such as when and how did they discover the policy violation? Was there an investigation going on that involved other people? Was there an outside agency involved? Etc.

But either way, even if you reported a potential FMLA violation to the DOL and they investigated and found in your favor, it wouldn't happen quickly and it wouldn't save your job since they can quite legally let you go as soon as your FMLA expires.

 

If they had fired you for not coming in to meet while you were on approved FMLA, that would be illegal. If they asked if you to come in and you did, it is not. If your FMLA expires this Friday, giving you 7 days to respond is fair. Wait until Friday when your FMLA is up to contact them if you wish.

I will say it is awfully suspicious when an employee originally only needs 2 weeks off and once in trouble for a policy violation, needs indefinite leave.

 

This post. You indicate you were asked to come in and speak to them on July 28 and were to have returned to work July 30. If your FMLA ends on the date you indicated, it would have begun on or about July 14. If you were told you needed to come in and meet with them on July 28 while you were still working and you didn't require leave until July 31, I am baffled as to why you would think that problematic. Certainly you don't expect your employer to have foreseen your sudden need to leave at the same time as you were in trouble with them.

It is not illegal to include discipline in a performance review and they do not have to give you advance warning. Presumably if you violated a policy you would already be aware of that fact.

 

I'm not in charge of you, so don't take this negatively.

We must take care of our bodies and work to be as healthy as possible.

If I were you, I'd focus on getting well.
Rushing the process will likely retard your progress.

Once you're fully recovered you can get back in the workforce.

Best wishes for your recovery.